China Unveils Best Moon Map Yet from Lunar Orbiter

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China's space agency released an amazingly detailed map of the
moon this week, marking the best view yet of the lunar surface as
seen by a Chinese spacecraft, according to state officials.

The
new moon map is made up of many high-resolution photos
snapped by China's second lunar probe — the Chang'e 2 orbiter —
and stitched together into complete view. China's State
Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National
Defense revealed the moon map during a ceremony on Monday (Feb.
6), and the country's Ministry of National Defense posted the
photos on the Web.

Liu Dongkui, deputy chief commander of China's lunar probe
project, reportedly said the Chang'e 2 lunar map is the
highest-resolution view of the moon ever recorded, according to a
Xinhua news agency report.

The new moon map was assembled from photos taken by Chang'e 2 as
it skimmed over the lunar surface at altitudes of between 9 and
62 miles (15 and 100 kilometers) between October 2010 and May
2011 during its primary mission. The photos have a resolution of
about 23 feet (7 meters) and are 17 times sharper than the moon
photos snapped by China's first lunar orbiter, Chang'e 1.

China launched the $132 million Chang'e 2 mission in October 2011
as a follow-up to the Chang'e 1 flight in 2007. The second lunar
probe's main mission was to scout for potential landing sites for
China's first moon lander, the Chang'e 3 spacecraft, which is
slated to launch in 2013.

China's lunar exploration efforts are part of a three-phase
program named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess Chang'e.
The first phase of the program involves orbital reconnaissance of
the moon, followed by a robotic lunar landing and later a
sample-return mission.

The Chang'e 2 mission made a special point of examining a region
of the moon's northern hemisphere known as Sinus Iridium (Bay of
Rainbows), which is a top contender for China's first robotic
moon landing.

After completing its primary goals last year, Chang'e 2 left the
moon's orbit on an extended mission to explore a deep space.
Today,
Chang'e 2 is studying the Lagrange point 2, a stable point in
space about 932,056 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth on
the side of the planet that is opposite the sun.

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